In 1983 and 1990 she was participant in the International Courses for Young Composers in Kazimierz, organised by the Polish section of the ISCM — where she attended lectures with Iannis Xenakis, Witold Lutosławski, Thomas Kessler and François-Bernard Mâche.
The intuitive shaping of evolving sound patterns, extended phrases and richly detailed textures in these works results from Kulenty’s original compositional technique which she calls ‘the polyphony of arches’ or ‘arcs’.
Her compositional style has evolved during the years since her dazzling orchestral debut, Ad Unum, a powerful, dissonant, dramatic and well-crafted study of convergence towards musical unity.
Instead, she often structured her compositions as single, powerful arches, slowly evolving in time, gradually increasing their gripping intensity of emotion.
Kulenty's mastery of time and her ability to structure her musical material into layers moving inexorably, inevitably towards powerful climaxes brings a symphonic dimension to her other theatrical compositions.
Her numerous orchestral pieces have been performed by symphony orchestras in the Netherlands (Radio Filharmonisch Orkest), Denmark (Danish National Symphony Orchestra), Poland, and Germany (Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin), with conductors such as David Porcelijn, Antoni Wit, Peter Hirsch, Peter Eötvös, Ingo Metzmacher, Renato Rivolta, and Ronald Zollman.
Soloists such as Isabelle van Keulen, Elisabeth Chojnacka, Krzysztof Bąkowski, Marco Blaauw, and Frank Peters have performed her work, as have the Dutch ensemble De Ereprijs, who commissioned her to write pieces on several occasions.
Since the success of her opera The Mother of Black-Winged Dreams at the Munich Biennale 1996 she is considered "one of the leading figures on the Polish composers’ scene".